Highly-anticipated Walthamstow theatre moves one step closer to completion as signs appear

Soho Theatre Walthamstow mock-up
-Credit: (Image: Waltham Forest Council)


A sign for the long-awaited Soho Theatre Walthamstow has been added to the building's roof ahead of its rescheduled 2025 opening date. It's a promising move forward for £30m renovation of the former Granada cinema into a 'world-class' arts venue following numerous delays.

The update was shared on X by Coco Whittaker, the head of casework at preservation company Twentieth Century Society, who added: "Exciting things happening at Walthamstow’s Grade II* 1930s Granada..." Waltham Forest Council confirmed the 970-seat theatre is still on track to open early next year but no specific date or month has been confirmed as of yet.

Much like it's Dean Street equivalent, Soho Theatre Walthamstow will play host to UK and international comedy, theatre, cabaret, screenings, pantomimes, and educational programmes. It's hoped the venue could bring in up to £61 million to the local economy over a ten year period.

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Waltham Forest residents and businesses will be offered regular discounts and priority booking to ensure it is a community asset first and foremost. The ambitious project was first announced in 2018 when councillors set aside £2.6 million to purchase the Hoe Street building from then-owner Antic Pubs.

It has lain empty since 2019 after plans to complete construction in three years failed to materialise. The theatre was then projected to welcome guests in both March 2023 and then February 2024 but these were both pushed back due to problems experienced by Willmott Dixon, the company leading the renovation works.

The Council told MyLondon at the time that the new timeline is due to the various challenges that come with "returning a much-loved Grade II* listed venue, much of which was unused and derelict for over twenty years, to its former glory”.

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